The figures are transparent, and a strong light in the rear projects their colorful images (i.e., ‘shadows’) onto a translucent screen, which is what the audience sees. “The standard number of artists for a performance is five: one puppet-master, who manipulates most puppets and does most voices a secondary puppeteer and three musicians, who also handle sound effects. The music is similar to the music heard during rituals conducted by daoshi ( Taoist priests, 道士). Taiwan follows what is called the ‘Chaozhou (潮州)’ tradition.” In the Chaozhou tradition, the flat, articulated puppets are operated with short rods fixed at right angles to the figure, which are not detachable.
“It originated in China at least a millennium ago, possibly two. “First - what exactly is shadow puppet theater?” Hsiao Meng-tung says. SHADOW PLAY IN TAIWAN - YESTERYEAR TO TODAY ( You might also like: Teacher’s Day in Taiwan: A Modern Take on a Confucian Tradition) ▲Simple as it may seem in the front of the screen, a shadow puppeteer actually needs years to master manipulation skills behind the scene. My father retired about 10 years ago, and my brother and I took over.” The duo has since taken the troupe to new heights, including repeat overseas travels to perform in Hong Kong, Macau, and Scotland, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Second, he wanted to teach northern Taiwan’s people about it, with the goal of building up a new audience, one person at a time. First, seeing the dwindling number of troupes around Taiwan, he wanted to preserve this folk art, so important to Taiwan’s cultural history. “That was in the 1990s,” says Hsiao Meng-tung. In middle age he decided to learn more, and for years would drive to Kaohsiung (高雄) and back on weekends to study under masters, overnighting on Fridays at his Changhua family home.”Įventually, after attaining a level of mastery on his own, he decided to form his own troupe, and the Shadow Legends Drama Group was born. Later, after moving to Taipei for work, he was surprised to find no shadow puppetry troupes here, and that people had little exposure to the form.
“After seeing shadow puppetry performed when he was a boy in Changhua (彰化), central Taiwan, he developed a lifelong interest. “We’re carrying on this mission in the name of our father, who founded our group,” he states. Hsiao Meng-tung leads the group with his brother, Hsiao Nai-cheng (蕭乃誠). ORIGINS AND MISSION OF THE SHADOW LEGENDS
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( You might also like: Baosheng Cultural Festival: A Festive Event Full of History, Religion and Community) ▲Shadow Legends Drama Group’s leader Hsiao Meng-tung (left) and his brother Hsiao Nai-cheng (right) took over the troupe their father established, and are committed to spreading shadow puppetry to the world.
Troupe leader Hsiao Meng-tung (蕭孟通) explains. It is the mission of Taipei’s Shadow Legends Drama Group (影子傳奇劇團), northern Taiwan’s sole shadow puppetry troupe, to help preserve the island’s shadow play theater traditions. Glove puppetry shares stage with marionette and shadow puppetry, called the “three major puppetry traditions of Taiwan.” As elsewhere around the globe, Taiwan’s traditional folk arts are threatened in the face of the myriad entertainment distractions modern life provides. You may not be so aware of two other forms, however. Its movies have entertained around the globe. If you’ve an interest in Chinese and specifically Taiwanese traditional folk arts for the stage, there’s a more than even chance you’ve heard of Pili Glove Puppetry (霹靂布袋戲), which has brought Taiwanese glove puppetry to the world’s attention with its mesmerizing “Golden Ray Puppetry (金光布袋戲),” characterized by fantastic battle scenes, brilliantly costumed characters, and bombastic light-and-sound effects.
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